Japan
When our granddaughters turned 13, we have taken them on a trip to a country in Western Europe of their choosing as their Bat Mitzvah gift. So far these trips included the UK and Greece from our first two granddaughters. However, our last granddaughter, demonstrating her independence, selected Japan as her choice. Not necessarily in Western Europe but well within the margin of safety we desired when traveling with our daughters children.When she first selected Japan, I must admit that I found this selection a little intimidating. It is one thing to travel to a country where one doesn't know the language, but another where one cannot understand the characters as well. Having just returned from this adventure, I did struggle at times with the language, but I do have to thank Gabrielle for choosing something that we may not have otherwise traveled to. We found Japan an amazingly friendly, clean and beautiful place to visit even though it is not necessarily the least expensive.
The initial part of our trip concentrated on Tokyo, the youth shops as well as the anima and Manga stores, since her involvement in this art form was one of the reasons for selecting Japan. We quickly learned that the subway system was incredible in its complexity and in the amount of people moved. Fortunately, we had some local people to help us out in getting around as otherwise it would have been a challenge. Other than our day of shopping the Shibuya area as well as the other youth centers we were taken around, we devoted the rest of our Tokyo visited to the Imperial Palace, Meiji Jungu Shrine and the Tsukiji fish market. 
From Tokyo it was the bullet train to Kyoto, another incredible experience. I have never ridden a train that was so smooth, quiet and fast. A little over two hours and we were in Kyoto for the historical part of our visit and included Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, samurai castles, geisha dancers, artisan shops and an incredible food bizarre in the center of town.
Our last stop was Matsumoto for its castle which is quite impressive. The trip to Matsumoto was equally impressive, through a long river valley between two mountain ranges. One of Matsumoto's reputations is its claim to being the gateway to the Japanese Alps and they were right. From our hotel we could see the snow capped peaks of Hakusan and the other peaks of the Central Alps. Our guide from Kyoto told me that he skies quite often in this area during the winter. Our only morning in Matsumoto was as cloudy and gray as the castle. Then after a quite long train ride back to Tokyo and experienced our last dinner with Mika and boarded our flight for the long haul back to Seattle.
All in all, it was a great experience and I came away truly amazed by their country, from the culture and history to the food and vitality. It is a great place to visit. For Gabrielle, it was Tokyo and its vitality, but for me it was Kyoto with its history and shrines. My favorite was the Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine with its Thousand torii gates up the mountain. For more images of the trip, please visit my web site at Photoshelter.